Show Trackertag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-12501902012-06-05T15:44:39ZWhat you're watchingTypePadShow Tracker is getting a face-lifttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0163061ef1ee970d2012-06-05T08:44:39-07:002012-06-05T15:44:39ZShow Tracker has a new look and a new Web address. Soon, this URL will automatically switch you to the new blog, but you can find it now at http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/.Scott Sandell

Please update your bookmarks and favorites, and thank you for reading Show Tracker.

— The Show Tracker team

Tuesday’s Highlights: 'Rizzoli & Isles' and 'Franklin & Bash' tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0163061ea4aa970d2012-06-04T20:05:00-07:002012-06-04T21:52:23ZClick here to download TV listings for the week of June 3 - 9 in PDF format TV listings for the week of June 3 - 9 in PDF format are also available here This week's TV Movies SERIES Pretty...Ed Stockly

Pretty Little Liars: As a new season opens, Aria, Emily, Spencer and Hanna (Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson) have spent a summer trying to recover from the traumatic events in Rosewood (8 and 10 p.m. ABC Family).Dance Moms: The drama at bombastic teacher’s studio continues with a new episode (8 p.m. Lifetime).Giuliana & Bill: Family and friends learn about the baby in the season finale (8 p.m. Style).Jane by Design: New episodes of the drama resume (9 p.m. ABC Family).Rizzoli & Isles: The shooting of Maura’s (Sasha Alexander) biological father causes a rift in her friendship with Jane (Angie Harmon) in the season premiere, the(9 p.m. TNT).The Glee Project: The 14 finalists perform in the season premiere (10 p.m. Oxygen).Franklin & Bash: A second season of the lawyer buddy dramedy begins (10 p.m. TNT).

SPECIALS

Concert for the Queen: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration: Katie Couric hosts a special musical gala in honor of the 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th year on the throne. (9 p.m. ABC).

'Longmire' hunts down a ratings record for A&Etag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0168ec1456e2970c2012-06-04T16:45:00-07:002012-06-04T23:45:00ZThere's a new sheriff in town - and he tracked down some high ratings for A&E Sunday night.
"Longmire," starring Australian actor Robert Taylor as a charismatic Wyoming lawman, delivered 4.1 million total viewers Sunday night, according to Nielsen. That makes it A&E's most-watched scripted series premiere ever as well as the top cable drama launch of 2012 so far. Scott Collins

There's a new sheriff in town — and he tracked down some high ratings for A&E Sunday night.

"Longmire," starring Australian actor Robert Taylor as a charismatic Wyoming lawman, delivered 4.1 million total viewers Sunday night, according to Nielsen. That makes it A&E's most-watched scripted series premiere ever as well as the top cable drama launch of 2012.

"Longmire's" lead-in, the Season 3 rollout of the detective drama "The Glades," gathered 3.1 million total viewers, up 19% compared with the Season 2 average.

'Game of Thrones' season finale hits new ratings high tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef01676711d917970b2012-06-04T13:41:57-07:002012-06-04T20:48:20ZThe Season 2 finale of HBO's "Game of Thrones" revealed the show's growing popularity, with 4.2 million viewers tuning in to the 9 p.m. broadcast, according to Nielsen. That set a new high mark for the series and was up a strong 38% compared with last year's Season 1 finale.Scott Collins

A new record has come to Westeros with Sunday's ratings for "Game of Thrones."

The Season 2 finale of HBO's fantasy series revealed the show's growing popularity, with 4.2 million viewers tuning in to the 9 p.m. broadcast, according to Nielsen. That set a new high mark for the series and was up a strong 38% compared with last year's Season 1 finale.

HBO said an additional 910,000 viewers turned up for a repeat at 11:10 p.m.

Overall, "Game of Thrones" has averaged 10.4 million viewers this season including regular broadcasts, video-on-demand, the network's HBO Go online service and DVRs.

Meanwhile, HBO's political comedy "Veep," with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a harried, frequently disrespected vice president, delivered 1.2 million viewers at 10:10 p.m., for that show's second most-watched original episode so far.

Right after that, the critically acclaimed urban comedy "Girls" hit a series high with 1.1 million viewers.

What did you think of "Game of Thrones" and the rest of HBO's Sunday lineup?

Dorothy Lucey purges co-host's 'mean' at 'Good Day L.A.' [Video]tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0168ec12f7c0970c2012-06-04T13:07:14-07:002012-06-04T21:16:05ZFormer "Good Day L.A" co-anchor Dorothy Lucey says she was very hurt by "mean" comments her colleague Jillian Reynolds made about her on the Howard Stern radio show.Greg Braxton

Dorothy Lucey joked about her promise not to cry during her guest shot Monday on her former rival "The KTLA Morning News," her first TV appearance since being let go a little more than a week ago from "Good Day L.A.", the Fox 11 news/entertainment show where she had worked for 17 years.

But Lucey, whose contract was not renewed, almost teared up when recalling how distraught she was by unflattering comments the show's "weather and lifestyle" anchor Jillian (Barberie) Reynolds had made about her on Howard Stern's radio show. Reynolds in 2009 spoke to Stern about her dislike for Lucey, calling her "very Christian and Bible-thumpy."

Lucey said she would call her friend, KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin, on her way to work, sobbing and saying, "I don't know if I want to be there anymore," she was so upset by the "mean."

The KTLA morning news team and Lucey were discussing Reynolds' apology to Lucey about those insults on the morning before Lucey's farewell. Footage of the apology -- and the conciliatory hug between the women with anchor Steve Edwards between them -- has provoked considerable buzz from some observers and bloggers who felt Reynolds was insincere and faking tears.

Rubin on Monday told Lucey that he felt Reynolds had taken "this unfortunate thing that happened to Dorothy, and made it all about herself." Weather anchor Mark Kriski said he felt Lucey was being blamed because things at KTTV "are not going well."

Lucey said she was also surprised by what she called her firing, since station management had told her that they wanted a "nice" newscast and that she fit right in. "I'm the nice Christian girl, the charity girl," she quipped.

She said she had a sense that she was going to be let go: "People were looking at me for a few weeks with sad eyes. I knew for a couple of weeks. I went through a period of denial."

But Lucey noted that despite the hard times, "for the most part, it was really fun." Saying she loved Edwards and Reynolds, who she called "a sister," Lucey added that she was touched by Reynolds' apology.

"I thought it was something that was deep and lovely, because [the comments] had been gnawing at me," Lucey said. "It helped me say goodbye." She suggested she had never confronted Reynolds about the statements: "You like to think you're the bigger person, that you forgive and forget, but it had gnawed at me."

Edwards remains on "Good Day L.A." while Reynolds will appear on a more limited basis that will allow her to participate in other projects. Executives said they would soon start holding auditions to replace Lucey.

In Sunday night's episode of "Mad Men," beleaguered partner Lane Pryce, facing financial and professional ruin, took his life in a suicide that is likely to have a devastating impact on the agency. Via telephone from London, the veteran actor Jared Harris spoke to Show Tracker about Lane's untimely demise, how series creator Matthew Weiner broke the news to him, and what it's like to film his own death.

You must be doing a lot of talking today.

Just in the last hour or so. But I haven’t seen the episode yet.

They don’t send you screeners?

No, gosh, no.

So you haven’t seen yourself dead yet?

I saw it in the makeup trailer. That was me, what happened on that was me, we did some makeup tests. They did the makeup and I put a brown paper bag over my head and an umbrella so no one could know what I looked like. I went round the back, they hung me from the harness, and brought the actors over so their reaction is the first time they saw me.

Was that difficult for you to film?

For me I had to resist the temptation to sort of burst into song. I wanted to sit there and go, “Always look on the bright side of life.” You know?

Is it a relief for the secret to be out of the bag?

It is. I kept it secret from just about everybody, my agents, my managers. Matt [Weiner] very kindly made it possible for me to go and shoot this Spielberg film, “Lincoln,” while I was shooting those last three episodes. And he made it possible for me to do the press tour of “Sherlock Holmes” that was happening at the same time. Part of the understanding then was I would not go up for any of the new-season pilots because obviously then if I was under contract to a new show, people would realize something had happened. There was a very deliberate attempt to make sure it did not get out. I understood that from my point of view, it would obviously be beneficial to me if it was as big a surprise as possible.

Did Matthew Weiner warn you that this might be coming, or did you just find out when you read the script?

He told me after the Episode 10 read-through. After every read-through, he says to everyone, “Don’t run away, hang around, this is my last chance to talk to you.” He was working his way around the room, giving people notes. He kept on leaving me for last, and then once he spoke to everybody he said come up to my office. Now that is a bad sign. Then he offered me really expensive brandy. That was my second bad sign. And then he said, "I’ve got something to tell you." And I went, “Uh-oh.” And he went, “Yeah...”

But you understood the reasoning behind it?

It felt like it was a good use of that character. [Weiner] likes to shake things up. It made sense in the storyline, the fact that he'd become marginalized in the office. Really his strongest tie in the office is with Joan, and she is herself struggling to be taken seriously. In terms of the pecking order, even though his name’s on the door, he was effectively way, way further down. No one really knows what he does, or respects it. They don’t respect it because he keeps telling them no. To the point where they’ve turned it around on him. They irony is they’re saying no to him now. He says, "Let’s give ourselves bonuses," and they’re saying no!

Did you buy his rationalization for stealing the money? I actually found it pretty convincing.

Totally convincing. I think if he'd asked Don he would have said yes. That's the whole point of that scene. Lane's problem is his pride. He couldn't ask him. It was interesting from the actor’s process point of view. You sit there and read the scene, and you think, "Why doesn't he do this? There are loads of opportunities for getting himself out of this, and he doesn’t do it." Matt’s smart, the way he set that up. The question becomes "Why isn't he?" And then you get the answer. It's the same reason why he hangs himself: His pride won’t let him go back to England.

So you think the prospect of returning home is what pushed him over the edge?

Once he doesn’t have that job he loses his visa, and he has to go back to England. No one in England would help him out. ... He has years of humiliation ahead of him. He couldn't face it. I think he takes the coward's way out. It's his pride that prompts him to do it.

How did you read the little moment he has with Joan after his meeting with Don?

I figured you kind of see that he's got nothing left to lose. He has a little fantasy idea of running away together, but it's one of those things that it lives briefly as an idea between them but then he turns on her at the end, doesn’t he, and makes some vile comment and walks out. First of all, she doesn't have those feelings for him. She's not going to abandon the job, even if she did have the feelings for him, it's his fantasy. When that reality check comes in, he turns spiteful on her.

Is there a dread at all among the cast, is it something you speculate about?

The only person who's guaranteed to be there all the way through Season 7 is Don Draper, and everyone knows that. You can't question [Weiner’s] judgment because it's been flawless. I can see from a personal point of view the value of going out with a bang like this. I'm grateful for that. I'm sad that I will no longer be working with them, and for him, and on that incredible material. But you can't question the man's dramatic judgment.

I know that “Mad Men” is going to be massive as it builds towards the end. Even when we were doing all the kick-off stuff for Season 5, people kept asking him about Season 7. It's just going to get bigger and bigger, and I'm very, very sad that I won’t be a part of that. I'm incredibly lucky to have been a part of it at all. I came late, and it has been really good to me.

'Game of Thrones': Alfie Allen talks poor, misguided Theon Greyjoytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0168ec12a6fc970c2012-06-04T11:50:23-07:002012-06-04T21:50:18Z"Game of Thrones" actor Alfie Allen talks about the ways that he sees bits of himself in Theon Greyjoy.Patrick Kevin Day

Theon Greyjoy spent most of the second season of "Game of Thrones" making one bad decision after another in his quest to rule Winterfell in Robb Stark's absence. But after a series of increasingly despicable acts, he finally got a chance to shine in the season finale, rallying the troops before reaching quite an unexpected conclusion.

For actor Alfie Allen, that scene was one of his favorites of the entire season. The 25-year-old British actor (who's the brother of singer Lily Allen and son of actor and musician Keith Allen) has had a career on stage, television and film, but his role as Theon is his highest-profile to date. He spoke about his character and the season finale in advance of the episode's Sunday airing.

Would you describe Theon as misguided? Selfish?

I'd say both of those words. Definitely. On the selfish side of it, he's looking for a bit of status. He wants to be Prince Theon and he wants to have the ability to make his own decisions and decide his own fate, which has never happened in his life. But he's also misguided -- he's trying to do things because he wants approval from his father. He thinks to achieve respect from the people in Winterfell, he needs to rule through fear. And that's never a good way to start off things.

But he just wants love. He wants to have this idyllic family with his sister. But it doesn't turn out that way. And when it doesn't, it leads him to make more of these decisions that he didn't usually make. I think Theon's trying to assert his power to the fullest of his abilities and to do that means doing despicable things. Even if that's not who he is deep down. I think in Episode 10 you see everything come back around and he realizes that maybe that wasn't the way to go about things. But he still knows he must continue in that same vein, because if he doesn't he may not respect himself. It's funny. In that scene in Episode 10, he finally gains the respect of his soldiers through being ready to die.

Your final scene in Episode 10 was one of your favorites from the season, correct?

It's cool. I shouldn't say he goes out in a heroic blaze, because he's not a hero. But he goes out in a blaze. People betray him that he put his trust in. I hope it was one of those points where you find yourself rooting for someone you didn't like for the whole series. When you see how badly he wants it, you'll find yourself rooting for him slightly. It'll twist your moral compass a bit.

What has been the public reaction to your character's despicable behavior?

Different. Some people hate me. Some people throw their arm around me and say, "Mate, I know where you're coming from." I think Theon is one of the most human characters on the show, to be honest. There's a lot people can relate to in real life. It definitely made it easier for me to play the character because I think it’s a universal theme that people are looking for the approval of their parents the whole time.

You were left to interperet Theon on your own, independent from how he's portrayed in the books?

Yeah, in the books Theon sets out to betray the Starks. That doesn't put him in a good light straightaway. So when we were talking about it in the first series, David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] were saying they were going to go there in a different way. So that he doesn't really know what he's doing. The way I wanted to play it was that he's going over to Pyke to enjoy a bit of status and also form an alliance between Robb and the Greyjoys and possibly command his own army into battle and to get the approval and respect of his father. But it all gets thrown back in his face and he's forced to make these brash decisions and he's pushed past the point of no return. He just has to carry on being that person. It's very sad.

Did that make it more palatable to you as an actor, to make him more sympathetic?

Definitely. It was something I set out to do.... There's a lot of people who sympathize with him and in a weird way, respect him. I just think there's a lot people can relate to.

In the first season you were part of the ensemble. In the second season your character was isolated from the rest of the main cast and brought to the front. Was losing the ensemble unnerving?

Not unnerving. It was funny that most of the people in my storyline were new characters, so often I found myself putting my arm around people saying, "Don't worry. Don't be nervous. I've been here before. I've done that." Being a "Game of Thrones" vet was a funny feeling. There were points during the first season where I was nervous, but I couldn't wait to get around to it. When I started to see some of the scenes they were adding for me...

There's Theon's final scene in Episode 10 that wasn't planned. And they wrote it halfway through the shooting of Season 2. I couldn't wait to get around to doing it. I didn't put much pressure on myself, to be honest. I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. I'm just trying to prove it to myself. That's the whole thing about doing TV and film, there's the delayed reaction. In theater you get the feedback and approval straightaway and you feel good about what you've done. On TV, there’s the torturous waiting for five months.

Is this the longest you've been with a character?

It's definitely the longest I've been with a character. It's part of my life. I see Theon as me. But I see that in any job I do. You have to find similiarites in any character you play. As an actor, that's one of the challenges. When you get a part you make it real to yourself. And to make it real, you bring parts of yourself into the character.

After two years, do you still find new things about the character?

Massively, man! All the time. It'll come to you in a weird way. You think you have to sit in a room and think about it for ages, but it's not like that. You're constantly thinking about it. You'll be walking up the stairs and it comes to you. Really, that's being an actor. You torture yourself about it and then you move on. One thing that took me awhile to realize was that Theon has a determination to succeed. And that’s definitely something I've got. I definitely want to succeed as an actor.

How much time do you spend filming in Ireland?

All in all, about 30 days, but the shoot takes about four months. 30 days spaced over those four months.

The weather doesn’t get you down?

No, it's all in keeping with the show isn't it? It's good. I remember last time it was one of the coldest winters they'd had on record in 25 years. For us, it was quite difficult in the first season but HBO treated us well. They give us nice trailers we can go retire to. The armor helps us get into character too. It can get a little tiresome at times when you want to sit down and have lunch. You have to position your sword in the gaps in the chairs and stuff but it all helps. I love it.

'Mad Men' recap: 'A moment before you need more happiness' tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0163061d0b21970d2012-06-04T10:56:06-07:002012-06-04T22:18:40ZOn "Mad Men," one life ends while another moves forward. Meredith Blake

The specter of death has loomed over “Mad Men” from the very beginning of Season 5, and now we know why. Despondent over the discovery of his embezzlement and facing almost certain financial ruin, Lane decides to take his own life. Though it’s not as thematically unified as last week’s “The Other Woman,” “Commissions and Fees” is all about life passages: While Lane is dying, Sally and Glen are moving into adulthood. As the title suggests, the episode also explores a question that has lately become central to “Mad Men”: What price are we willing to pay for success?

By my count, Lane’s suicide is the third tragedy to befall the agency during business hours. Two seasons ago, there was the maiming of Lane’s nemesis — and fellow Englishman -- Guy Mackendrick. Then came the unceremonious death of Miss Blankenship near the end of last season. By now, you might think the employees of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce would be inured to this kind of human suffering in their midst, but no: Even the weasely Pete Campbell, who was far from friendly with Lane, is stunned and upset by the news.

For the viewer, however, Lane’s demise was somewhat less shocking. His storyline was forced to the back burner for most of this rather crowded season, but Lane came back with a vengeance two weeks ago in “The Christmas Waltz.” At the time, I complained that Lane’s financial crisis was overly manufactured, and I still believe it was. His scheme was transparently stupid, to be sure, but the basic impulse wasn’t entirely out of keeping with what we know of Lane, a man who will do anything to preserve his dignity. From the moment he forged Don’s signature, we all knew this wasn’t going to end well for poor old Lane.

If anything, it’s something of a miracle that it’s taken so long for Lane’s malfeasance to come to light (it’s also odd that Bert Cooper, and not Joan or Scarlet, is the first person to notice the check). Bert assumes that Don went behind the backs of the other partners and gave Lane a bonus. It’s a convenient assumption, one that allows Don to quietly ask Lane for his resignation without anyone being the wiser. The scene is wrenching, not quite as devastating as Peggy’s farewell last week but difficult to watch nonetheless. When Don asks why Lane didn’t just ask for the money -– an entirely reasonable question –- Lane’s explanation speaks multitudes: “Why suffer the humiliation for a 13-day loan?”

Though Lane’s excuses are not terribly convincing, it’s hard not to sympathize with him somewhat. “I have never been compensated for my contributions to this company,” he complains, his sense of entitlement no doubt inflated by his appointment to the 4A’s financial committee earlier that day. While Lane was dutifully tending to the company’s books, Roger was busy taking three-martini lunches, napping in his office and bungling the Lucky Strikes account -– a screw-up almost as egregious and far more destructive than Lane’s. Can you blame the guy for getting mad?

But Don is right, and probably very generous, to give Lane the option to resign. As the scene ends, Don leaves him with a sage and unusually forthcoming bit of advice: “I’ve started over a lot, Lane. This is the worst part.” For a minute or two there, it seems like everything might work out for Lane. Then, he gets home to discover that his wife, Rebecca, has splashed out on an expensive Jaguar. From this moment on, it’s a matter of when, not if, Lane will do something drastic.

In one final indignity, Lane tries and fails to asphyxiate himself in his brand new Jaguar, but he can’t get the engine to work (Attention, class: This is what’s known as “irony”). He eventually goes to the office, where he sits down in front of his typewriter and clanks out a boilerplate resignation letter. To the very end, Lane maintains his stiff upper lip. The following morning, it’s poor Joan who makes the grisly discovery, but it’s Don who, after stumbling back into the office after his meeting with Dow Chemical, insists on taking Lane’s corpse down from where it’s hanging. This season of “Mad Men” has been an unusually blunt one, and the sight of Lane’s stiff, blue corpse is possibly the show’s least delicate, most explicit moment. Yet despite how shocking it is, there’s something somewhat muted about Lane’s death. Perhaps because the build-up to it was so schematic, the emotional impact is not quite as devastating as it ought to have been.

It’s hardly a coincidence that Lane’s death is discovered while Don is making his borderline psychotic pitch to Dow. Earlier in the episode, Don complains to Roger about the “piddly” accounts the agency is scoring. He doesn’t come out and say it, but Don’s new-found aggression no doubt has something to do with Joan’s decision to prostitute herself and Lane’s petty self-sabotage. Why bother going to such extremes if the rewards are so meager?

Though it’s surely not what he intends, Don’s overzealous Dow pitch sounds almost like a critique of capitalism. “Eighty-one percent isn’t enough!” he says maniacally, the veins in his forehead bulging. (Jon Hamm is a master of face-vein manipulation). Then, in one of those coded lines of dialogue that “Mad Men” just loves, Don conveys the emptiness of rampant consumerism: “What is happiness? It’s a moment before you need more happiness.” When asked about Dow’s manufacture of Napalm, a subject I somehow knew was going to come up, he offers up an overly simple jingoistic rationalization. He first notes that it was used against the Japanese and the Germans (read: “people who deserved it”), then claims, “The important thing is, when America needs it, Dow makes it, and it works.” Well, that’s more than enough for me!

When it comes to morals, Don has always been a rather slippery figure. He’s appalled at the idea that Joan would sleep with someone to procure a partnership, and he insists on taking Lane’s body down before the coroner gets there, yet he glibly defends the use of chemical weapons against a civilian population. Don might not see it, but in my book these three events -– Joan’s night with Herb Rennet, Lane’s suicide and Don’s wild-eyed pitch –- add up to an indictment of capitalism. In “Mad Men,” material desire leads to only unhappiness, yet no one seems quite able to unburden themselves of it.

Sally’s storyline provides a welcome respite from all the doom and gloom in “Commissions and Fees.” After spending an afternoon with Megan and Julia, Sally is feeling suddenly grown up. She invites Glen, whom she hasn’t seen in more than a year, to the city for an afternoon of hookie. Although she gets gussied up, Glen arrives at the door sporting an awkward peach-fuzz mustache. He’s become a man. Whatever romantic possibility there might have been quickly dissipates at the natural history museum, where Glen tells Sally, “You’re like my little sister, except smart.” Sally seems relieved rather than disappointed to hear it. She may not be ready for a relationship, but her body is plunging ahead into adolescence. She gets her first period while at the museum –- we all knew that was going to happen, didn’t we? -- then flees home to her mother.

At first Betty is a little flummoxed, but she rises to the occasion, finding just the right words to say to Sally: “There’s a lot of responsibilities, but that’s what being a woman is. Then when it happens every month, even though it’s unpleasant, it means everything’s working.” This rare moment of intergenerational understanding is echoed in the closing scene, where Don helps Glen realizes his dream of driving a nice car. It’s an abrupt tonal shift from the horror of Lane’s suicide, and it’s an oddly hopeful way to conclude such a bleak episode, but I’ll take it.

Stray thoughts:

--A major red flag: No only did Peggy not appear in this episode, but her name wasn’t even mentioned. This does not bode well.

--How do we read the drunken bikini comment Lane makes to Joan? Was he, in a state of desperate delusion, hoping she’d respond to his overture and run away with him to Hawaii?

--Are we to assume that Lane was working on a suicide note while sitting on the couch next to Rebecca?

--Signs of trouble on the horizon: Don’s been drinking a lot, and Megan is clearly getting annoyed with being treated like Sally’s babysitter.

--At the partners’ meeting, Joan wears a fetching blue and red polka-dot number. I don’t think we’ve seen it before. Maybe Joan treated herself to a new dress after making partner?

--Don and Megan live at 782 Park Ave., which would put them just around the corner from the elite Buckley School.

-Glen, ever the comedian, tells Sally that Theodore Roosevelt killed all the animals in the natural history museum.

'Spartacus' to end next season on Starztag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0168ec129014970c2012-06-04T10:39:29-07:002012-06-04T17:41:51ZThe Starz: historical period drama "Spartacus" will come to an end next season, under the banner “Spartacus: War of the Damned." “The fans have been tremendously supportive of our show,” says creator and executive producer Steven S. DeKnight. “We did not come to this decision lightly."Yvonne Villarreal

The flesh to loincloth ratio (not to mention the sex to violence ratio) is about to diminish significantly on Starz: The historical period drama "Spartacus" will come to an end next season.

The series that helped put the premium cable channel on people's radar will see the last of its fictional battles unfold in its third season, “Spartacus: War of the Damned."

“The fans have been tremendously supportive of our show,” says creator and executive producer Steven S. DeKnight. “We did not come to this decision lightly. It was an extremely difficult and emotional decision for my partners and I. Yet, in the end, the story was best served by rolling all of the remaining action and drama of Spartacus' journey into one stunningly epic season that will be extremely satisfying for everyone who's been along for the ride."

Its most recent season, "Spartacus Vengeance," averaged more than 6 million viewers each week, according to the network. The series, which airs in 150 countries in more than 15 languages, has had to face its own set of battles since its debut two years ago. Its star Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after the first season, putting a second season on pause. Instead, a prequel, "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena," aired sans Whitfield. The role of the Roman gladiator eventually was turned over to Liam McIntyre for the show's second season, following Whitfield's death last year.

“Spartacus: War of the Damned” is currently in production in New Zealand. The 10-episode season is scheduled to air in January.

The winner of this week's challenge on "Food Network Star"? Giada De Laurentiis.

She's not a competitor, of course, but a mentor. But Giada singlehandedly saved Ippy in the dreaded Pitch Room by cleverly playing up his Hawaiian roots -- and what a wonderful travel-oriented food show that could make for viewers who might never otherwise see that slice of paradise.

Well played, Giada!

Quick rewind: Ippy and Eric, brothers from different mothers, artists in the kitchen, and duds in front of the camera.

Oh, Ippy started out strong all right. But his laid-back Hawaiian style backfired this week when it came off as aloof, unmotivated and disengaged. Eric had the opposite problem: over-amped to the point of distraction. While he delivered on the plate, he floundered at the "star" part. Both men surprisingly ended up on the chopping block this week. (Personally, I think either Yvan, Marti, Linkie or Judson could have ended up there before those two.)

On the face of it, Eric seemed destined to make it out of the Pitch Room and back into the competition. The Flay Man noted that Eric just might be the best chef in the competition, as evidenced by his ability to make everything from scratch, down to the ricotta cheese in his lasagna. But Eric didn't have Giada on his side.

The judges asked Giada if she had any final words before they began to deliberate Eric and Ippy's fate. And boy, did she ever.

"Everybody wants to be able to experience Hawaii. And I think that Ippy could take everybody on a regular basis, 'Come with me, to paradise.'"

Bam!

Just like that, Ippy was back in it. At the end of the day, Bob and Susie are looking for stars and a show they can sell, and nothing sells quite like paradise.

Said Susie: "Ippy is an original ... whether you can get to Hawaii, or bring a little Hawaii home, he would be the guy to do that."

Eric's elimination capped a brilliant challenge handed down by Ted Allen. Take humdrum dishes -- meatloaf, pork chops, tuna casserole, etc. -- and give them a makeover worthy of an unveiling at New York's fashion week. Team Alton won in part because the rose-lipped Justin and Emily actually listened to the challenge and brought their quirky flare to it. That's actually putting it mildly.

In eight seasons of "Food Network Star," no one has ever nailed a challenge like Justin, who turned beef stroganoff into a jellied checkerboard dish that looked like it might be a hat, a coat, a bag … it defined food-meets-fashion.

'Game of Thrones' recap: All men must dietag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef0168ec108b50970c2012-06-04T07:55:16-07:002012-06-04T21:57:28Z"Game of Thrones" resumed its Carmen-Sandiego-style world tour of Westeros for a season finale that left surprisingly few of its characters hanging off cliffs and focused far more on resolution.Laura Hudson

After last week's climactic episode, which remained laser-focused on Kings Landing and the bloody Battle of the Blackwater, "Game of Thrones" resumed its Carmen-Sandiego-style world tour of Westeros for a season finale that left surprisingly few of its characters hanging off cliffs and focused far more on resolution and begrudging acceptance: of failure, of death, of change. There's a lot of ground to cover in this extra-long 65-minute episode, so let's get started.

Those concerned about Tyrion can breathe a sigh of relief as he wakes up relatively unharmed, although he's now Battle Damage Tyrion thanks to a rather nasty scar across his face. Turns out the man who attacked him was Mandon Moore, a member of the Kingsguard sent to kill him at Cersei's behest.

But the greatest blow to Tyrion is not physical, but political: As Master Pycelle informs him quite gleefully, Lord Tywin has taken over his position as the King's Hand, relieved Bronn as commander of the City Watch and sent Tyrion's hill-tribe warriors home -- transforming Tyrion instantly from one of the most important players in the game to a powerless bystander.

One of his few remaining allies appears to be Varys, who goes out of his way to acknowledge that Tyrion saved Kings Landing from certain destruction, because neither the history books nor Lord Tywin will ever do so.

Cut to Lord Tywin's horse crapping all over the stone floor outside the throne room, a rather unsubtle but apt metaphor for how the Lannister patriarch has always treated his youngest son. Joffrey offers Littlefinger all the lands of Harrenhal as a reward for coordinating the partnership with the Tyrells, and grants an even bigger boon to Ser Loras by breaking off the engagement with Sansa in favor of marrying his sister, Margaery.

Sansa is over the moon about the idea that she might finally get away from that tow-headed psycho, but Littlefinger quickly quashes her tiny moment of sunshine and disabuses her of that notion. Although the betrothal may be over, it's not going to end the beatings, plus he adds that there's all kinds of exciting rape to look forward to now that she's finally "a woman"! Littlefinger promises to help Sansa escape because of his affection for her mother, so here's hoping that bargain works out better here than it did for Ned!

Brienne and Jaime encounter three dead women hung along the road with a sign that reads: "They lay with lions." The three men who killed them for consorting with Lannisters amble back down the road and go into laughing fits when they see Brienne in armor, a situation she seems sadly accustomed to. Clearly bound as a prisoner, Jaime tries to slide under the radar by pretending to be a pig thief, but one of the men sees through the ruse and recognizes him. Brienne steps in with astonishing speed and eviscerates all three of them with such ferocity that even Jaime seems shocked.

I'll admit to freeze-framing on his hilariously shocked expression several times, as it is priceless. Maybe it's time to cut back on those jokes about her sexuality, eh Kingslayer?

Jaqen appears once more to say farewell to Arya after her escape from Harrenhal, and she takes this opportunity to tell him how impressed she's been with his awesome murdering, and how wants to learn how to do it herself! Jaqen says she'd need to come with him to the faraway city of Braavos, but because she's not ready to give up on finding her family, she declines.

Instead, Jaqen gives Arya a strange silver coin and the words "valar morghulis" as consolation prizes, and tells her that if she ever wants to find him again, she need only give them to any man from Braavos. And then he leaves, but not before he kills one final person: himself. "Jaqen is dead," he tells Arya, before turning his head away and turning it back -- to reveal an entirely different (and slightly less hot) face.

Things looks grim for Theon, whose twenty men holding Winterfell are now surrounded by 500 enemy soldiers with no help from the Iron Islands forthcoming. He seems very much like the old Theon here, and Master Luwin gently counsels him to flee and join the Night's Watch. Theon says it's too late; he's "gone too far go pretend to be anything else," and there's nowhere to go now but through. He gives a very stirring Braveheart sort of speech about dying gloriously and it seems like his men are rallying... until someone bonks him on the back of the head and prepares to deliver him to the enemy outside the walls, presumably per Robb Stark's offer of leniency.

Daenerys arrives at the House of the Undying to reclaim her dragons, and finds herself drawn into strange, tempting visions as she moves from room to room. In one, she walks across the throne room of Kings Landing, empty and dark with snow falling from a ruined ceiling open to the sky. Then she finds herself in a tent where she has an emotional reunion with Khal Drogo and the child they lost. When she finally finds her dragons chained to a table, the warlock appears and explains that the dragons have fueled the revival of magic, and because she makes them stronger, they're going to imprison her with them... forever.

Much like Brienne, her response is swift and lethal, ordering her dragons to shoot fireballs at the warlock, consuming him in flames and dissolving their chains. She returns to the villa of Xaro Xhoan Ducksauce, finds him in bed with her handmaiden, and locks both of them in Xaro's empty vault to die a slow death while her khalasar loots everything he owns. It will be enough, says Mormont, to buy a ship.

Robb Stark, much like his father, is an honorable idiot who can't help but make the wrong decisions for the right reasons, which is why Robb's decided not only to have hot, spontaneous tent sex with Talisa, but to put aside the Frey betrothal and marry her.

Oath-breaking is kind of a big deal here, not just in terms of personal honor but the rather intense political fallout this is going to create, particularly from Lord Walder Frey. But Robb doesn't care because he's in looooove and somehow thinks he's on a show in which love is treated as a formidable power that conquers all, rather than a profound weakness more likely to destroy you.

Speaking of powerful men under the sway of alluring foreign women, Stannis is understandably pretty upset about his massive military failure at Blackwater and the Lord of Light's inability to seal the deal, which he expresses by choking Melisandre rather vigorously and screaming, "Where is your god now?" She maintains that he will still ultimately become king (after betraying everything he once held dear, a qualification that doesn't faze him but probably should?). There stare into a fire together for a while; sadly there are no S'Mores.

Finally, Jon continues his march toward Mance Rayder with the wildlings and ranger Qhorin Halfhand, who had previously urged Jon to become a spy within the wildlings for the Night's Watch. Qhorin contrives a fight with Jon that forces him to kill the ranger, which earns him trust from the wildlings. Moments later, Ygritte brings him to see the armies of wildlings gathered together in a frozen valley below. Their numbers are not small.

Meanwhile, the men of the Night's Watch must face another, even bigger threat as the third horn finally sounds and the White Walkers finally rise up en masse, shambling forwards in the undead hundreds for the final dramatic shot of the season.

That's it for Game of Thrones until 2013! Now that it's all over, what were your favorite moments of Season 2?

Sex and violence tally:

Violence: Brienne kills three Stark soldiers, Jon kills Qhorin Halfhand, Stannis chokes Melisandre, Master Luwin gets stabbed, the warlock burns to death and, though this isn't violence in the traditional sense, Daxos gets buried alive in a vault, which is a pretty messed up way to die.

Nudity: A prostitute strips pointlessly for Varys.

Extra-credit book report:

Tyrion's wound was actually far more disfiguring in the book, with three-quarters of his nose and a chunk of his lip lost. Robb didn't set aside his marriage to the Frey girl for Talisa -- who is not a character in the book -- but rather a high-born girl from a minor family named Jeyne Westerling. Luwin was killed by Bolton's men, not Iron Islanders (or Osha). And Daenerys went to the House of the Undying accompanied by her dragons, and she had very different visions and ultimately burned not the warlock, but the entire building.